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T" WESTERN NEBRASKA 



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AND THE 



•—^EXPERIENCES 



OF ITS 





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PUBLISHED BY THE 



Union Pacific Wy Co.'s Land Department, 



OMCA.HA, NEIiTtASliA. 



Prepared and Compiled by Ji^T. ALL 



OMAHA, NEB.: 

Republican Printing House. 

1882. 



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^1 WESTERN NEBRASKA AND ITS CROPS. 

— . S 

^r« The object of these papers will be to say something about homes 

- S in Western Nebraska, the facilities for obtaining- them, the manner and 
* ^ profits of grain growing and stock raising, the value of our great 

^ native meadows for stock breeding and dairying, the growth of forests 
.^A~~and orchards, the facilities of markets, and other matters of interest to 
'< those seeking homes in the west. All this information has been 
obtained from personal interviews with farmer's at their homes, the 
intention being to present solid facts from the experience of practical 
and successful men. The section visited is the Platte Valley, along the 
line of the Union Pacific Railway, and for twenty miles each side, 
commencing loo miles west of the Missouri River and extending 150 
miles, "or beyond the looth meridian. Till recently this has been called 
desert land, but now, as these statements attest, it is proved to be rich 
in all the elements necessary for-most successful and profitable farming. 
This brings in" a few years to the poorest homesteader, who com- 
menced with nothing but a stout heart and willing hands, all the com- 
forts of life, and, before he is worn out with toil, that enjoyment of 
well earned rest which all hope to attain, 

PROFITS OF WHEAT CULTURE. 

Last harvest time the land commissioner of the U. P. railway sent 
out to the wheat fields of Nebraska to ascertain where were the wheat 
fields of the State. The result indicated that they were in the western 
and northwestern counties, some of which give an averag^ of 16 to 30 
bushels. The highest being 27 bushels in a field of BufTalo county, 
while many fields yielded over 20 bushels to the acre. The failure of 
the crops in some of the great wheat growing States like Illinois and 
Michigan, brings up the inquiry: Where are the wheat lands of the 
continent? And taking up the Mark Lane Express (j^and glancing 
over its reports, we cannot help but ask: Where are the wheat fields 
of the world, and from whence will come the daily loaf? The food 
which will sustain the labor of the country at the least expense, and 
still furnish the necessary food power is a great item to-day. We can 
now estimate what relation there is between forces and food, and the 



8 "Western NebkasSa. 

demands of labor on the food supply. The question is: What will 
furnish the greatest amount of ability to work? 

Here comes in the quality of the wheat from which we get the 
great indispensable, bread. Farmers, we cannot help saying, are 
looking for quantity in their grain crops, and while they seek to im- 
prov the breed in their hogs and cattle, don't stop to think that their 
grain needs the same attention. Minnesota has a great flour trade, 
both at home and abroad, because attention has been paid to growing 
wheat which produces the best flour that possesses the most gluten. 
A gentleman who was here a few days ago, who came with letters to 
Secretary Blaine, from Hungary, in Europe, a great wheat grow- 
ing region, had been north in Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba, and 
furnishes information in regard to the quality of wheat, and says that 
the samples he took from the Laud Department of the Union Pacific 
are identical with some of the se of the north. He had made careful 
analysis of wheat from different parts of the United States, with the 
following results in regard to the amount of gluten. The whole goes 
to show that the wheat lands are west and northwest, and that Ne- 
braska has a great share of them. The figures are: Oregon, 36 per 
cent.; California, 19; Indiana, 31; Tennessee, 33; Delaware, 14; Con- 
necticut, 32; Manitoba, 45; Minnesota, 46; Dakota, 53. The samples 
of wheat shown from Kearney county at the State fair is identical with 
the Dakota wheat. A hard wheat has the most gluten, and hence 
more value for food. The Union Pacific Land Department has 
been interested in a change of seed, and has on exhibition 
some fine samples. Some of these wei'e sent by Mr. HoJIingshead, 
formerly of Pawnee county, in this State, now of Fargo Dakota. 
Growers of wheat should give this matter attention and consider 
whether it is not advisable to cultivate these varieties which yield so 
much food. There is no need of the complaint of crops running out. 
There are interests which pay largely in the river counties aside from 
wheat growing, but the country one hundred miles from Omaha and 
westward should give attention to wheat growing. The success of 
the wheat crop this year in Buffalo, Phelps, Dawson and Kearney 
counties and those adjoining has answered the question as to where 
are the whejt fields of Nebraska. The writer could mention the 
names of dozens of farmers In these counties who have sold five and 
six thousand bushels of wheat of this year's crop. 

Europe looks westward for bread and meat. Nebr;jska will furnish 
a share, and there is no better location for those who are seeking 
cheap lands to engage in producing food which the world wants. 

Gilt. : 



JUH 20 



VSW)* 



Western Nebraska. 3 

' BUFFALO COUNTY.. 
J, A, Herron, of Kearney, commenced four ye^rs ago on a home- 
stead, all his capital being four horses and a plow. Had previously 
been a merchant, and unsuccessful; now seems to have found the 
business to which he has given both thought and labor, and found 

success. 

Last year he sold 6,000 bushels of wheat. The crop of 1881 con- 
sists of 4S0 acres of wheat, 120 of corn, 60 of barley, 20 of millet and 
160 of flax in a solid body. The latter crop he considers one of good 
profit, and will cause the erection of numerous mills throughout the 
State. Last year he sold I300 bushels to the mill at Omaha, at $1 per 
bushel; He sows three varieties of wheat in the order of their ripen- 
ing. White Italian, Scotch Fife and Grass wheat; plows deep in the 
fall, sows early 11^ to 3 bushels to the acre. In harvesting uses a 
hea'der which cuts twenty-five acres a day. He says if a man comes 
west with capital to go into business he will find nothing more profit- 
able than growing small ^rain; believes it better than corn, as the 
work IS all done by n^chinery. 

The expense this year for pulling in these crops has been the labor 
of himself and two men hired by the month, and two men hired dur 
in<'- harvest. Has now ten head of horses, and agricultural machinery 
valued at $1,200, all from the profits of grain growing. 

David Anderson, formerly sherift' of this county, lives four miles 
west of Kearney, on a farm of two hundred and forty acres, and com- 
menced farming five years ago, his capital being one yoke of oxen 
This year raised 100 acres of wheat, 60 being Italian, 16 Scotch Fife 
and 24 acres grass wheat; the yield was 22 bushels per acre. He has 
also 1 10 acres of corn, and 3^^ acres of Timothy, which gave a heavy 
crop, some heads measuring ten inclies. This was cut with a headei 
to save the seed, and the straw with a mower for hay. Is satisfied 
timothy will do well, and will sow all his seed. Believes in combining 
stock o-rowing with faming, and has 83 head of cattle and S horses, 
A grove of trees around a white farm-house adds to the beauty and 
comfort of the place, and an orchard is to be planted at an early day. 

His present crop shows good tillage, which he considers most 
important, and is a strong advocate of wheat growing for profit, as he 
has had success, and believes here are the wheat lands of Nebraska. 

J. D. Seaman, of Kearney, commenced growing w'heat in 1874, and 
has had each year since from 25 to 250 acres. During that time the 
lowest yield has b«en 165^, and the highest 28 bushels per acre. Thf 



4 Western Nebraska. 

lowest price wns 73 cents; price Oct. i, iSSi, $i.oS. The first crop 
will pay more than the expense of breaking; after that and hiring all 
the work done he has raised wheat for 40 cents per bushel. To succeed 
he says plow deep in the fall, and thus be ready for early seeding, a most 
important point. Use plenty of the best seed that can be obtained, two 
bushels to the acre is not too much. Don't try to grow two crops at the 
same time, one of which is weeds; believes in a frequent change of seed 
if only frpm the highlands to the valley; but has found success in get- 
ting seed from abroad, and prefers thjt grown farther north. 

Geo. Norris, of Kearney, came to this county from Iowa, in 1S72, 
without capital and $3,000 in debt, lias now 200 acres in farm and 
pasturage. Is engaged in the milk business in connection with farm- 
ing. Has 130 head of cattle, 50 of which are milch cows. Finds that 
stock combined with grain growing insures the most profit to the 
farmer. Has eleven head of horses and mules. The crop of this year 
consists of 90 acres of Italian and grass wheat, 70 of corn, 16 of barley, 
20 of oats, and 16 of millet, and all have done well. The above shows 
what can be done by a man of energy in a very few years. The old 
debts of $3,000 have been paid, and now does not owe a dollar. 

Low^enstein Brothers, Kearney P. O. These men came here three 
yenrs ago with seven other German families from Iowa, and located 
five miles north of Kearney, on railroad land. They had some capital 
to start with, and have received a good return for their labor and in- 
vestment. This year have 160 acres of wheat, 75 of corn, 25 of millet,- 
15 of oats and 8 of barley. The varieties of wheat are Lost Nation, 
Mammoth and grass wheat. Sowed this year on fall plowing ir^ 
bushels to the acre broadcast. Harvests with a twine self-binder, 
which cuts 14 acres per day, and does good work. 

They believe in the profit of combining stock raising with farming. 
•Have 69 head of cattle and 13 horses. Both live in good white farm 
ihouses with barns and granaries. 

Mr. Anderson, three miles east of Kearney, commenced three years 
ago with small capital, has now 135 acres improved, good farmhouse, 
'barn and granary, with a grove and young orchard started, and all the 
rimprovements, made from the profits of grain growing. 

C. R. and Abner Stimson, of Kearney, Buffalo county, have each a 
homestead of one hundred and eighty acres, with good farm houses 
and groves about them; each have eighty acres under cultivation. The 
■first year C. R. did not have even a team, now he has seven head of 
Worses and all necessary agricultural machinery.. He believes in the 
Ibenefit of summer fallowing. These two men commenced four years 



Western Nebraska. 5 

ago with nothing- but their unbroken homesteads. Another example 
of the profits of wheat-growing. 

D. M. Fuhner, of Gibbon, illustrates what a man can do 
who comes here with capital. Last year he came here from Onon- 
dago County, New York, and bought two adjoining quarter sec- 
tion':, improved, each having a good story and a half house. The 
whole cost $3,Soo. Besides his own he is cultivating an adjoinmg 
farm for another New York man who will come here this fall. 
The present crop is 350 acres of wheat; varieties, Early Ham- 
burg and Grass; 70 acres of corn, 10 of oats and 12 of potatoes; vari- 
eties being Early Rose, Early Vermont and Buckeye; o^cres of corn, 
which he feeds to his horses green and finds it the best feed during 
summer and fall work. He has one field with a good stand of timothy 
and clover and will sow 40 acres more. In regard to preparation of 
the soil he said: "Give me fall plowing 6 to 8 inches, at least, and this 
work will begin the day the wheat is off and not stop till 200 acres 
are turned over. By this means I can commence seeding as soon as 
6 inches of frost is out of the ground, for early sowing and planting 
is most important. Sowed wheat and oats this year in April, which 
was afterward covered with snow. By all means be liberal with 
seed; a great mistake is made in this. The soil here is richer than the 
East, and in all respects tha crop is benefitted by standing thick; the 
harvest will show the result." He prefers drilling, the grain being 
put in an even depth, and if the ground is plowed deep the roots 
like down and find a deposit of moisture furnished by the spring 
rains for use during dry time. Wheat, like grass, makes its strong 
root growth during the cool weather of spring, the influence of suc- 
ceeding warm*;h. Mr. F. showed the difference between fall and 
spring plowii.g. A strip in a field left last fall and plowed in the 
spring showed a much lighter crop of grain and plenty of weeds, 
while the fall plowing was clean. He uses a header for harvesting, 
but the crop, he says, must be entirel}'^ free of weeds or there is danger 
of the grain spoiling in the stack. This year he has built an exten- 
sive barn with sheds, and he remarked, "I am going to keep just as 
much stock as I can shelter, nothwithstanding I am surrounded by a 
thick grove." This year, from the planting of hisjDredecessor, he has 
had a good crop of currants and grooseberries, and is -satisfied that 
this will be a good country for profitable fruit growing. The above 
shows what can be done in Western Nebraska b\ a thinking man of 
energy who comes here forehanded. The result of this year's wheat 
crop will pay for the original investment, while the corn, oats, etc., 



3 "Wkstern Nebraska. 

will pay for all the improvements, expenses of living and labor, and 

leave a margin. 

WHAT CAN BE DONE. 

In looking for the man who came here without a nickel and sue 
ceeded by growing wheat, the writer found a number near Kearney, 
Nebraska, but will instance the case of L. D. Brigham, who lives on 
the railroad three miles from town. A little over six years ago, for 
want of money to pay his fare, he left the train at Columbus and 
walked a hundred miles, arriving here without money to buy a meal, 
and a total stij^inger. A man who was working at the carpenter's 
trade took him, and they- "bached" it during the winter. Mr. Brigham 
was a good blacksmith, and through his friend got credit for some 
tools and lumber for a small shop. Work flowed in, he took up a 
claim, and put up a cabin. Mrs. Brigham, in the meantime, raised 
money to come out, and while he worked at his trade in town, she 
lived on the claim to hold it, the carpenter's wife also helping along 
in the same way. I have heard those two men laugh together at those 
days, and give their brave wives the credit justly due them. 

Five years ago Mr. B. commenced farming, and everything about 
him shows the skilled farmer. He has 417 acres, all but fifty improved. 
A good white farmhouse, furnished in a style not cortimon with many 
of eastern farmers; $1,200 invested in agricultural implements and 
machiner_^, eleven horse&, five cows, thirty horses and young stock. 

Besides his own land, he is farming some outside. This 3'^ear's crops 
are in No. i condition, promising a great harvest, and consist of 450 
acres of wheat. What I saw ought to yield twenty bushels to the 
acre, 175 acres of corn, twenty of oats, twenty of barley, and twenty 
of fl:ax. Last year he sold 5,150 bushels of wheat. It was a dry 
year, but an average of 14]^ bushels per acre. The kinds this year 
are Italian, Scotch Fife, and Grass wheat. He sows i^ bushels to 
the acre broadcast, believes in deep fall plowing and early sowing. 
This year sowed March 27th, last year February 27th. The above 
is an emphatic answer to the question does it pay to grow wheat in 
Nebraska. Tho best judge of property has told me that he could 
step out of the place to-day with $12,000- and reserve the present 
crop. 

PHELPS CO UN XT'. 

L. Hallgreen, Phelps Center, began five years ago and now has 320 
acres under cultivation. Three years ago he had 200 acres of broom 
corn, which has always been a paying crop. This year has 50. His 



Western Nebraska • 

neighbors, J. M. Dahlstrom and John Johnson, nave each forty acres, 
and" almost every farmer ten to twenty- five. Five years ago there 
were only sixteen families in this county, which now has a population 
of 3,000. Three-fifths of the farmers are Swedes, but there has been 
an influx of moneyed farmers this year from Wisconsin mostly, who 
are doing excellent work. Most of these Swedish families came here 
destitute, who now are in comfortable circumstances, with good 
houses, teams, stock, and an abundant crop. 

H. Duquene came here in 1874, and took a timber claim and a 
homestead. Had a team, but went in debt for a plow. The last c^t 
of money was used to pay for a sack of flour. For the result of six 
years farming, he has all his homestead in cultivation, and sixty acres 
of timber claim, forty acres of which is planted in timber cottonwoods, 
box elder, locust and black walnut. The cottonwoods will measure 
fifteen inches, black locust the same size. All the trees have made a 
good growth, and have received cultivation like any other crop. He 
thinks planting timber most important for protection to crops and 
stock, and very soon furnishing an abundant supply of fuel. He has 
now five horses and four mules, and has this year turned off"forty.five 
head of cattle. Is very much in favor of mixed husbandry. Has sixty 
acres fenced for pasture, and says the most money can be realized 
from grain growing, by feeding it on the farm. Prefers ground feed 
in all cases, and a frequent change." Save all the straw, allowing the 
stock to run to it, thereby turning it into manure, which every farm 
needs, notwith'^tanding the natural richness of the soil. Sheep grow- 
ing has proved very successful, and is largely on the increase. 

\n September he sowed fifty acres of rye which furnishes excellent 
pasturage after the native grasses are killed by frost; butter nlade 
from it is as rich and yellow as that from grass in June. 

He urges fall plowing for all crops, and instances a field which 
gave forty- two bushels of oats to the acre; while another, spring- 
plowed, gave nothing but short straw. Present price of oats forty- 
five cents and corn fifty cents, now being sold to Kansas farmers who 
suffered fr<om drought the past season. 

The varieties of wheat he prefers are Australian and Scotch Fife, 
sowing one and one-fourth bushels per acre ; thinks that amount of 
seed sufficient as the plants stool much more than in the eastern 
states; has counted thirty-seven stalks from a single seed. By fall 
plowing the ground is more compact, not so open to allow of drying 
out. Besides, it allows seeding as soon as the frost is out, insur- 
ing a good growth before the heat and dry winds of summer. The 



8 Western Nebraska. 

increase of ho^s is very noticeable in the county, the cross of Poland 
China, with Berkshire being the breed mosf preferred, and furnishing 
a hog which will weigh 200 pounds at six months old. He believes 
there is no better farming county in the state than Phelps county, 
and among other crops, says broom corn has,i been a very profit- 
able one. 

J. P. Abrahamson walked into Phelps county three years ago with- 
out a cent. Commencing as a common laborer, lie is now worth 
over ^2,000. 

C. C. Hansen took a homestead here in March, 1S79, an-' hired a 
part of it broke by paying back in work. Has now five b ses and 
necessary agricultural implements. His oat crop this year as sixty 
bushels to the acre, selling at 45c, From seven bushels of potatoes 
planted, he got a return of 200 bushels, which were sold at $1.00 per 
bushel. He says the demand for labor on farms, gives work at once 
for the new-comer and he soon earns a team and starts for himself. 

Charles P., Carlson came to Phelps county in the fall of 1S74. 
His wife remaining at work in Lincoln till the next year. His 
winter's work enabled him to buy d yoke of cattle, and his wife's 
earnings bought a cow. He took a homestead and timber claim, and 
has now 150 acres improved, a span of horses, two mules and three 
cows. Tiiis year his wheat crop amounted to 1,000 bushels. This 
is a striking case where a competence has been obtained in a short 
time by diligent labor and careful management. The same oppor- 
tunity is open to-day. 

A. Christensen, near Sacramento, in Phelps county, came there in 
1S76; his sole capital being a yoke of cattle. He took a homestead 
and a timber claim, and now on the homestead has 100 acres in cul- 
tivation and his timber claim doing well; has a span each of mules 
and horses and all needed implements. Thrashed Soo bushels of 
wheat and'a good crop of rye. This case is a sample of a large num- 
ber in this county, who have worked from nothing by persistent 
energy, until they reach the high road to competence, wealth and 
rest in the later days of life. 

J. D. Moore, of Hall county, has forty acres of Canada Red and 
Rio Grande wheat, which yield twenty bushels per acre, and sold for 
$1.09. As the work was all done by machinery, he says it pays to 
grow wheat. To show the condition of roads there he mentioned 
that he hauled 129 bushels to market in two loads, with two horses. 



Western Nebraska. 9' 

KEARNET COUNTY, 

John Nelson, who lives near Mirage Postoffice, has 330 acres, 200' 
of which are in cultivation, with substantial farm buildings, black- 
smith shop, and^a iull line of agricultural machinery, from a threshing 
machine down. This year has 100 acres of wheat, 70 acres of good 
corn, besides rye and barley. For varieties of wheat he puts the Tea 
first, (which mus,t be cut before it is too ripe, as it shells easily), the 
Italian next, and the grass third * 

He has had previously five crojDS with a yield of 8, 16, so, 15 and 
iS bushels, being an average of [51^ to the acre, ile prefers drilling 
and has pieviously sown 11^ but, next year will use two bushels of 
seed to the acre. Where wheat is sown thick the heads, though 
smaller, are filled to the end, with lighter straw; when it is thin the 
heads spindle up with less grain. Fall plowing he considers essential 
to keep down the weeds, and seeding as soon as the frost is out. By 
this means a strong growth of root is secured during the cool spring 
months. He instanced the crops of this year: the early planted 
wheat .was filled and commencing to ripen before the extreme hot 
' weather; and the same with corn, which was hardening, while late 
planted would fall far short of a full crop. Farmers generally were 
doing better work, having found that a bushel of poor seed harrowed 
in among corn stalks would not produce a crop. 

The price or harvesting he stated was $ 1.25 to $ [.50 per acre, with a 
V. self-binder, cutting about 15 acres per day. One dollar per acre for 
cutting and stacking with a header, threshing 4 cents per bushel. 

Near his house he has a thrifty grove of five acres, mostly cotton- 
wood. This fall he will make a large addition of white ash. A 
wind-mill pumps an abundant supply of water, the stream running 
through the milk room, and thence to the cattle yards. It may be 
interesting to state that this farm with its fine improvements was • 
started five years ago on a capital 0I two-and-a-half Ao\\?iX?,. 

Charles Erickson, near Mirage Postoffice, in Kearney County, com- 
menced five years ago with a yoke of cattle bought on time, and a 
homestead of bare prairie. He has now 320 acres, this year's crop 
being 125 acres of wheat, 100 acres of corn, which is extra fine, and 
fifteen acres of rye. He proposes to fence in sixty acres for pasture and 
^;aise stock in proportion to the crops he has to feed them on. He has. 
now a good start of cattle and fine young Poland-China hogs. Now 
more hogs are wanted to eat this big crop of corn, as it is cheaper to 
drive fat cattle and hogs to the nearest railway station than to haul 



10 Wlstkrn jSebraska. 

the grain, and the prices of ths former are not so fluctuating and un- 
certain. As to varieties of wheat he puts Wliite Itahan first; next, 
tea, and grass wheat third. The latter has always been popular, the 
berry being small but weighing heavily. One objection to it is the 
slow growth in the spring, and it takes longer time to mature. He 
practices deep culture and early seeding, and approves of a frequent 
•change of seed. 

Thomat Boyer commenced farming here in 1875, on a homestead, 
with three horses and a wagon, and some provisons, with twenty-five 
cents in cash. He has now 800 acres of land: 235 acres improved, 
and sixty fenced for pasture. Has eight horses, twenty-four head of 
cattle and forty-seven hogs. Has sold this year 1,500 bushels of 
wheat, and over $300 worth of hogs. This year his oat crop averaged 
fifty bushels per acre; barley, forty-three, and some of his early 
wheat twenty-seven bushels per acre. He is a strong advocate of 
growing the coarse grains, fencing pasturage land and raising meat; 
that it pays better than anything else to combine grain and stock. 

Broom Corn. — A.J. Huxford, of* Central City, Meirick Co., has 
raised broomcorn for seven years without the failure of a crop. 

This year has had 30 acres. Ground prepared the same as for corn, 
planted with 3i/^ qts. of seed to the acre, May 15, cultivated twice — 
has planted as late as the loth of June and had a good crop. Its foli- 
age being heavier it soon shades the ground and endures drouth better 
than corn. The usual yield is one ton from three acres. Out of a lot 
of 71^ tons shipped there were only 600 lbs. of crooked corn. Has 
sheds for curing, and the brush has always ranked No. i. Sold this 
year to a Chicago firm for ^72.50, loaded on the cars. He has always 
found the crop profitable, and next vear will put in 40 acres. 

The estimated crop this year, as delivered at Kearney station, is for 
Phelps count}', 600 tons, Kearny county sixty, and Gqsper county fifty 
tons. The average is a ton from three acres, and the price is increas- 
ing with the yearly increasing demand. In 1S80 the price was $65, 
while in Dec, iS8i,the price paid has been as high as $115, which 
gives a return of over $38 per acre. This crop being planted closely 
in rows is often cultivated but once. The foliage shades the ground, 
and hence weeds do not grow. This year the crop has been handled 
without the need of sheds, but still for safety they s'lould be built. 
Sheds can be made at small expense, all the lumber needed being posts 
•and rafters, the grass, which is six to eight feet long on the low 
grounds, furnishes a material for roofing, which for durability will 
outlast twice the time of pine shingles. The population of Phelps 



Western Nebraska. 11 

county, three-fifths of whom are Swedes, know well how to use their 
early experience in their own country in thatching roofs. 

To show the western movement of agriculture in Nebraska, a letter 
from Mr. Shortill, of Sidney, 415 miles west of the Missouri river, 
tells what can be done on lands, which, to the traveler, would at first 
sight be condemned. He says Mr. Kreuger. planted one pound of 
Early Rose potatoes, with a product of thirty-six pounds, which 
would be at the rate of 200 bushels per acre. He also sowed a half 
pound of oats, which produced over thirty pounds, the straw three 
feet high. Cabbage weighing twenty-five pounds, and potatoes two 
pounds. He has strawberries, gooseberries, currants and raspberries 
doing well. 

Garden vegetables of all kinds have done well this year, only re- 
quiring a little irrigation, and Mr. S. says that this sample of the pro- 
ducts of the Lodge Pole Valley, only shows what can be done in all 
the valleys of western Nebraska wherever there is water. The in- 
crease year by year of the rainfall, as it seems to move westward, 
brings into cultivation some of the best grain producing land of the 

west. 

PLATTE COUNTT. 

Egyptian Corn. — Rev. J. C. Evans, of Duncan, in this county, 
has this year 7 acres of this new grain, which has qualities which will 
make it valuable for table food, for cattle and as a forage plant. The 
ground was prepared as for corn, and planted the first week in June, 
in hills two feet apart each way. A common corn planter was used, 
arranging the seed boxes so that 3 to 5 seeds were dropped at once. 
Sixty days after planting the large foliage covered the ground, and the 
corn was in head, standing 4 to 5 feet high. Planted at that time 
shows it had plenty of time to mature. Last year it withstood the un- 
usual drought, yielded well. As to the quantity of forage, the amount 
he set down at 6 tons per acre. He noticed that the sheep, when they 
escaped, would pass the corn field to eat the Dourra. Some of the seed 
ground into meal and made in bread in the same manner as corn meal 
was decidedly superior. The white variety boiled was in ?very way 
equal to rice. The large amount grown to the acre will furnish cheap 
food for fattening cattle, combined with ground corn, oats, etc. 

A NEBRASKA TIMBER CLAIM. 

Kearney, Nkb., July 19,1881. — H. Roe says: I filed on the 
claim in March, 1874, and had forty acres broken in June of same 
year. 1875 T prepared ten acres of it for trees and tree seeds by ploW' 



12 W^ESIERN ]S^EBRASKA. 

ing and harrowing it, and I planted about :,ooo seedling cottonwoods, 
which are now thirty and thirty-five feet high, with a circumference 
of twenty to thirty inches; also one-half bushel box elder seed, from 
which there are in places dense masses of trees fifteen to twenty feet 
high. They have borne seed now three years, and I expect forty 
bushels of seed can be gathered from those trees this year. 

I have been planting trees and tree seed on the claim every year 
since 1S75 '^'•'"'til 18S0. Some years they have done poorly and in 
others they have done well. I have planted soft maple, white ash, 
Cottonwood, box elder, a few gray willows, some locust and 40 bush- 
els of black walnuts. 1 have probably 45,000 trees of all kinds grow- 
ing, o( all sizes up to thirty feet high and thirty inches in circumier- 
ence. There will certainly be enough to cut out from now to keep 
two or three families in wood if judiciously done. I can not say as to 
the profitableness of raising timber in Nebraska, but in this case I get 
the land by planting the trees, and Ihave the trees, which, I presume, 
with the land, will be worth two or three times what it has cost me 
to improve the claim and set the timber, and I have hired all my wcic 
done. 

PROFITS OF TIMBER GROWING. 

An eastern man landing in a prairie country says at once, "why 
yau have no timber here;" but if one of them had been wi'th the writer 
yesterday he would have had a chance to be lost in the woods, and 
that too, in a tract of cultivated timber in Douglas county. Mr. John 
Hallenback, who has one of the fincbt farms in this section, had the 
forethought to commence planting a forest in 1S61, and now has 160 
acres ot timber. Every acre of this land is worth more to-day than if it 
had cropped with grain for the crop of timber would sell for more in 
market. 

Tae first planting was the pioneer tree of the west, cottonwood, 
then soft maples, walnuts and ash. Mr. H. said: "I have sold 150 
cords of wood, besides every day neighbors are hauling away loads of 
poles." A tract of forty acres of walnuts, which the writer had not 
seen for ten years, is the most valuable. Nuts were planted in 1S64 
where the trees now stand, and among them young cottonwoods 
which have, as French growers say, answered as nurses to raise up the 
tree until it has body. All these trees have a young sawlog twelve 
to fifteen feet high, now thirty-four inches in circumference one foot 
rom the ground. The great demand for walnut timber for cxpor 
and what it will be ten years from to-day, tells the vajue of these 25,- 



Western JMebraska. 13 

•ooo trees. The maples and cottonwoods, as fast as cut awa)% renew 
their growth with new, strong shoots. A fine plantation of ash, some 
which measured thirty inches, will furnish the best or manufocturing 
timber. This growth of timber tells what can be done on prairie 
farms in producing fuel and protection. We have to agree that corn 
pork and cattle feeding belongs to eastern Nebraska. One- third of a 
farm to corn, and the other two-thirds to timber and pasturao-e. The 
protection afforded by the trees will largely increase the corn vield and 
less feed will be needed for the stock. In this tract of timber is an 
acre enclosed where Mr. B. is feeding a hundred head of cattle and 
one hundred and fifty Berkshire hogs. One hundred of the latter are 
brood sows. Western Nebraska with its great corn crop is asking for 
young hogs — hence the profit of growing them here with a sure maa- 
ket in view. One look at that solid quarfer section of forest is suffi- 
cient to inspire any man with the belief that timber can be grown here 
with success and great profit. 

GROWTH OF TIMBER. 

A row of cottonwoods planted around a block in Omaha, in iS6i 
would now furnish forty saw logs, some of the trees measuring seven 
and a-half feet. A soft maple planted in 1S64, now measures over 
six feet. Some white pines in a tract of two acres, within sight of 
Omaha, measures thirty inches at sixteen years old. 

Timber. — C. H. Lee, Silver Creek, Merrick Co. Cottonwood 9 
years, i foot above the ground (several specimens) 3 feet 7 inches. 

Soft Maple, 9 years, 2 feet 2 inches. 

Wm. Stolly, Grand Island, Hall Co. Cottonwood, 18 years, 7 feet 
1 inch, 70 feet high. 

Green Ash, 15 years, 2 feet 6 inches. 

W^hite Ash, 6 years, 16 inches. 

Honey Locusts, 5 years, 20 inches. 

American Larch, 5 years, 20 inches. 

Black Cherry (from seed) 4 years, 9 inches, 15 feet high. 

Black Walnut, 16 years, 2 feet 6 inches. 

White Elm, 6 years, 14 inches. 

Nebraska Hay. — An examination of the statistics of the agri- 
cultural department will show that hay is one of tte most prominent 
crops in the United States, and this estimate is largely made from the 
product of grass grown on high priced lands. It is a great advantage 
to the poorest settler who locates on Nebraska lands to find an abund- 
ance of feed for his stock at the cost of cutting. The lichness of 



14 Western N^ebraskA: 

these grasses, it is claimed, cannot be surpassed by the tame varieties. 
Horses heix never have the heaves, and those coming liere are soon 
cured after feeding on this hay. The great and increasing demancJ 
from the mountain region will always render this a profitable crop in 
western Nebraska. A visit to the hay presses of Hon. J. T. Clark- 
son, President of the State Board of Agriculture, located a short dis- 
tance from the depot at this place, (Schuyler) showed a bushiess that is 
surprising. 

Here thirty-five men and fifteen teams are emjDloyed baling and 
shipping in car.«, the market being mostly at Denver, from which 
point it is shipped to the mountain towns as far as Leadville, and also 
to towns along the main line of the Union Pacific. The baling house 
is a substantial pine building, 40x80, and 16 feet high. The hay is 
hauled from the stacks and^:lelivered on a floor level with the top of 
the baling machines, two of which stand in the center of the build- 
incr. It requires two men to feed each machine, and a hundred pound 
bale of fresh green hay is rolled out of the door every minute. Three 
wagons are 'kept busy hauling it to the cars. A steam engine in a 
separate building supplies the power. Seven thousand tons were- 
shipped during the past eighteen months. During the present rush 
the buildings are lighted with lanterns at night and the machinery 
runs till 10 o'clock. Fort}'^ tons a day is the capacity. At intervals , 
along the track are four buildings for storage, 40x80 feet, perfectly 
tight, with good Siiingle roof and tight floors. Here, when cars are 
short, the h: v is stored and a supply kept on hand, so that an order 
from any part of the country can be filled in a few hours notice. En- 
tering one of the buildings the air is as fragrant as "new mown hay'' 
of Lubin's best, from tier on tier of bales piled thirty feet high. A 
car load was shipped to-day, Oct. 8, 1S81, to a horse railway company 
in New Jersey, who wished to test the quality of western grass. Mr. 
Dillon, of North Platte, who is giving attention to horse breeding, 
says from his experience that horses raised there are superior in wind 
and endurance to those fed in the east on clover. This abundance of 
hay, which costs only the cutting, is one of the many advantages 
which Nebraska oflfers to settlers, and a most important one. The 
poorest homesteader has the benefit the first year. More stock can 
be kept and at a very trifling cost, than would be possible with tame 
hay, but to those who wish timothy, this year has demonstrated that it 
is a success where sown, on those very lands where the wild grass 
grows so abundantly. Each successive cutting renders the grass of ■ 
finer quality and free from weeds. Hay has been put up this year, by , 



Westekn Nebraska. 15 

contract, as low as one dollar per ton. Mr. Clarkson has earned the 
title of the "Hay King of Nebraska," and opened up a market for a 
valuable product which nature furnishes without cost. The amount 
of money paid out for labor is no small benefit to that section of 
country. 

Crkamery. — Mr. C. H. Lee, of Silver Creek, Merrick County, 
realizes the great wealth which lies in our native grasses and has sold 
his store, doing a good business, to go into dairying, confident 
of success. His first shipment to Denver realized thirty-five 
cents, with a demand for all he could ship of such extra 
butter. The coming year he will enlarge his business by the 
addition of more milch cows. He remarked, it does not take a great- 
capital at the start to go into the business of turning this grass into 
beef^ mutton, butter, cheese and wool, and the demand for these arti- 
cles is certain and increasing. To use up the skim milk he has a very 
fine lot of Poland-China hogs. One litter of nine pigs, six months" 
old, will weigh 300 pounds each. In all breeding, he says, raise the 
standard up to the best. Butter made from our rich grasses cannot be 
excelled, and the facilities open for its production should attract the 
attention of eastern dairymen. 

Grape Culture. — Wm. Stolly, of Grand Island, Hall Co., 150, 
miles west of the Missouri River, besides cultivating for market, has. 
experimented largely and has the following varieties in bearing this 
year: Lady, Noah, Taylor, Elvira, Clinton, Cottage, Hartfoid, Cyn- 
thiana, Herman^ Diana, North Carolina; Ives bearing heavy; Catawba 
a great crop. Concord, the standard grape, as everywhere does well; 
600 of the 800 in his vineyard are of this kind. He has great success 
in grafting on wild roots. Delaware and Elvira 2 years grafted are 
an inch'in diameter at the ground, and cover So square feet of trellis. 
Most of these passed through the hard winter of last year without 
protection. As wild grapes grow along all the streams the indication 
is sure that cultivated varieties will -succeed in all parts of the state. 
With grapes selling at 4 cents per pound, $165 have been realized 
per acre, 

H. Craig, of Washington county, has sold this year two and a-half 
tons of grapes from one and one-half acres of "ground, and received 
five cents per pound net. These were mostly Concoids, with some 
Marthas, Cottage, and a number of other varieties familiar to eastern 
growers. This is a return of $160 per acre. One thousand Concord 
vines, to the acre will cost $30 for the best, and our western demand 
is unlimited for the fruit. ♦ 



16 Western Nebraska. 

Ensilage. — The preservation of green food for animals in winter 
has attracted much attention in the Eastern States, and an experiment 
with it hei'e proved a perfect success. There would be as much pro- 
priety in using dried beans as the only vegetable at our daily meals, as 
to feed animals entirely on dried grass. 

We think it essential to have a supply of canned corn, tomatoes, 
peas, fruits, etc., to be used as appetite suggests; why may not horses 
and cattle relish green food in winter ? 

When ensilage is properly made, a deep- walled and cemented cellar 
is used, called a silo, and into this chopped corn-stalks, or other green 
food, is closely packed and tightly covered until wanted in cold 
weather. Mr. A. D. George, of Gibbon, Buffalo county, made an 
experiment last year which was very satisfactory. An open, out- 
door cellar was packed full of green cornstalks as they came from 
the field; boards were spread over it, and a thick covering of earth. 
This was opened in January, and found to have changed from alight to 
a dark green color. Hoises, cattle and hogs ate it eagerly, and milch 
cows increased one-third in. their milk. This year he has sown a field 
with corn, and intends to repeat the trial of last year on a larger scale, 
cutting up the stalks before packing. When we consider that 6 tons 
of corn, or 4 tons of millet can be grown on an acre, the cost of ensi- 
lage is very small compared with its value for winter food. 



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Address, 

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Land Comijiissioner, 
Q^'y OIVIAHA, NEB. 



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